Toy construction kit with selective rotatable and non-rotatable connection of components



I Jam; 24, 1969 Fig.4 1

A. FISCHER 3,451,158 TOY CONSTRUCTION KIT WITH SELECTIVE ROTATABLE AND vNON-ROTATABLE CONNECTION OF COMPONENTS Filed Nov. 15, 1966 Fig.1

1 12 Fig.

I V INVENTDR. I I 84 W United States Patent Int. Cl. A63h 33706; F16b7/00 US. Cl. 46-16 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a toyconstruction kit, a male element has a cylindrical end portion ofconstant diameter. A female element has a passage bounded by a concaveinner surface extending over more than 180 of arc. The passage consistsof two large longitudinally adjacent portions one of which The presentinvention relates to a toy construction kit. More specifically, theinvention relates to a toy construction kit which includes a malestructural element and a female structural element and in which the malestructural element can be secured to the female structural element atthe option of the user in such a manner as to be either rotatably ornon-rotatably coupled to the female structural element.

It is customary to provide toy construction kits, with which models ofbuildings, vehicles, machines or the like can be erected, with shaftmembers which can serve as axles, as rotatable shafts, as supports forrotatable elements, and for similar purposes. Of course, the otherstructural elements included in such toy construction kits must also besecured to one another and for this latter purpose it has been proposedto provide all or some of these structural elements with undercutgrooves whose width increases in the direction away from the surface inwhich they are provided, and to further provide all or some of thestructural elements with male coupling portions which project from therespective elements and are so configurated that they can be insertedinto the grooves from one or the other open end of the latter and arethereafter prevented from being withdrawn from the groove transverselyof the elongation thereof. Such male coupling portions have a narrowneck portion carried by the respective structural element andconfigurated so as to be able to extend outwardly through the narrowestpart of the undercut groove, and a wider head portion carried by theneck portion and of such size as to be unable to pass through thisnarrowest portion of the groove. Such construction kits which alsoutilize the shaft members mentioned above for varying purposes, havebeen found to be highly versatile and to be of considerable educationalvalue for children. However, the last-described type of kit just as allthe others which are known to me at this time from the prior art doesnot make any provision for circumstances in which it may be necessary ordesirable to connect a shaft member to one of the other structuralmembers either rotatably or non-rotatably relative to the latter.Usually, in all toy construction kits of the type here under discussion,the shaft member can be secured to another structural member forrotation relative thereto or therein; but there is no provision forsecuring such shaft member to the other member without any possibilityof rotation or, even more desirably, with the option of changing fromrotatable'to non-rotatable status without any difficulty and withoutrequiring any complicated manipulative steps. Actually, although theterm rotatable status has here been used for the sake of convenience itshould be understood that the desired change is to be from a status inwhich the shaft is immovable relative to the other structural member towhich it is secured and to .a status in which the shaft is in factmovable relative to such other structural member whether it be in arotary or in a sliding sense. Hereafter, the term rotatable or rotatablestatus will frequently be employed and it should be understood that thisdoes not exclude other freedom of movement in a predetermined mannerrelative to the structural element to which the shaft is secured.

In view of the above discussion of the prior art it is a general objectof the present invention to eliminate such drawbacks as result from theimpossibility of securing a shaft member either rigidly or movably toanother structural member of a toy construction kit.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a toy constructionkit in which a shaft or male member can be secured to another structuralmember in a manner which, at the option of the user of the constructionkit, permits a very simple change from a connected status in which theshaft member is immovable relative to the other structural member to aconnected status in which the shaft member has a certain freedom ofmovement relative to the other structural member.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a toyconstruction kit in which use is made for the purposes of the inventionas outlined above of female coupling portions already provided on thestructural elements to which the shaft member is to be secured thusassigning to such female coupling portions a dual function.

A further object of the invention is to provide a toy construction kitof the type outlined above which is simple and economical to manufactureand which can be used even by children with little manipulative skillwithout any difficulties.

In accordance with one important feature of my invention I provide, in atoy construction kit a male structural element and a female structuralelement. The male structural element has a symmetrical end portion ofconstant diameter and the female structural element is provided with apassage bounded by a concave internal surface which extends over aportion of are at least slightly greater than Further in accordance withthe invention the passage in the female structural element comprises twolongitudinally adjacent portions, of which one is of a constant diameterslightly greater than the diameter of the end portion and of which theother has a diameter which decreases in the direction away from the oneportion. Thus, when the end portion of the male structural element isinserted into the one portion the elements are free to move relative toone another, whereas insertion of the end portion into the other portionwhose diameter decreases in the direction away from the one portionresults in frictional engagement of the surfaces of the male structuralelement and of the other portion, whereby such movement of the elementsrelative to one another is prevented.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned side-elevational view of -a modelconstruction provided with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end-elevational view of one element shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partially sectioned side-elevational view of a male andfemale structural element incorporating the invention; and

FIG. 4 is an end-elevational view of the female structural element shownin FIG. 3.

Discussing now the drawing in detail and firstly FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof,it will be seen that in FIG. 1 two structural elements, such as buildingblocks, are identified with reference numerals 1 and 2 and are connectedto one another. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 a screw 3 or asimilar member is provided which secures the building blocks 1 and 2 toone another for pivotal movement in the direction of the double-headedarrow. This is merely by way of illustration and does not form part ofthe invention.

The building blocks 1 and 2 are each provided at their free end faceswith a male coupling element, which in the case of the building block 1is identified with reference numeral 4 and in the case of building block2 is designated -with reference numeral 5. Each of these male couplingportions 4, 5 is, as is clearly evident from FIG. 1, constituted by aneck portion and a head portion carried on the neck portion and having agreater width than the neck portion. Each of the building blocks 1 and 2is further provided with one undercut elongated groove, and in thebuilding block 1 such groove is indicated with reference numeral 7whereas in the building block 2 it is indicated with reference numeral6. It is clear that, if for instance the male coupling portion 4 ofbuilding block 1 is inserted into the undercut groove 6 from the openend thereof, the building block 1 will be securely joined to thebuilding block 2 and cannot be removed therefrom transversely of theelongation of the groove 6. In fact, this is shown in FIG. 1 by way ofan additional building block 9 which is secured to the building block 2in just this manner, namely by insertion of its male coupling portion 10into the groove 6 of the building block 2. A reference to FIG. 2 willmore clearly establish the cross-sectional configuration of thesegrooves and it will be seen that they diverge in the direction inwardlyaway from the surface in which they are provided so that, when the widerhead of one of the male coupling portions is received in one of thesegrooves, they naturally cannot be withdrawn except axially thereof. Itis also evident from FIG. 1 that each of the building blocks 2 can beprovided with more than one of these grooves and, in fact, FIG. 2 thatthe building block 1 is provided with four such grooves.

In accordance with the present invention each of the grooves 6, 7 is ofa particular cross-sectional configuration. This is to permit the userof the toy construction kit to secure the cylindrical shaft member 8 tothe building blocks 1 or 2 in such a manner that the shaft member 8 iseither immovably secured to the respective building block or that it canturn or move axially of the respective grooves. To this end each of thegrooves 6, 7 consists of two portions. Thus, the groove 6 comprises afirst portion 6a located adjacent the open end of the groove and asecond portion 6b located adjacent the closed end of the groove that isinwardly of the portion 6a. Similarly, the groove 7 comprises the firstportion 7a and a second portion 7b. The common characteristic of boththe portions 6a and 7a is that they are of cylindrical cross-sectionalconfiguration, complementary to the cross-section of the shaft member 8so that the same can be received in either the portion 6a of groove 6 orthe portion 7a of groove 7 and can rotate therein or move axiallytherein without any impairment. The portions 6b and 7b of the grooves 6,7 however, taper in cross-section in the direction away from theportions 6a and 7a, respectively. It is evident from FIG. 1 that thisdecrease in the cross-section of the grooves does not affect the mannerin which the building blocks can be coupled to one another by means oftheir male coupling portions 4, 5, 10 since as the male coupling portion10 of the building block 9 shows, these coupling portions have fairlysubstantial clearance from the inner surfaces bounding the respectivegrooves so that they can freely slide along the entire length of thesegrooves without being affected by the fact that the crosssection of thegrooves decreases over certain portions thereof.

However, and as will be evident from FIG. 1, the decrease in thecross-section of the grooves does affect the shaft member 8 whereas theshaft member 8 can be axially moved or rotated relative to therespective building block-in FIG. 1 the building block 1-when itsleading end portion is received only in the respective portion 6a, 7a ofconstant cross section of the grooves 6, 7 any deeper introduction ofthe leading end portion of shaft member 8 causes the same to becomewedged in the groove portions 6b, 7b whereby the shaft member 8 isprevented by frictional engagement of its peripheral surface with theinner concave surface of the respective section 6b, 7b from eitherrotating or moving axially. Thus, whenever the shaft member 8 is to beused as an axle, that is in a rotary capacity or when it must be axiallyshiftable, its end portion is simply inserted only into the portion ofconstant cross-sectional diameter 60, 7a, of the respective groove. If,on the other hand, the shaft member 8 is to be secured to the respectivebuilding block 1, 2, immovably relative thereto, the front end orleading end portion of the shaft member 8 is just inserted somewhatfurther into the respective groove until it intrudes into the respectiveportions 6b, 7b and becomes wedged therein. If, subsequently, it isagain desired that the shaft member 8 be movable either in axialdirection or in a rotary sense relative to the building block to whichit is thus connected, it is simply pulled in the direction oppositelythe single arrow, that is in the axial direction of the shaft memberuntil it becomes dislodged from the respective portion 612 or 7b. Noother manipulative steps are required, no connections must beestablished or released, no tools are needed and no time consumingassemblies or disassemblies are necessary.

Coming now to FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the arrangement therediffers from that in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the building block 11, whichhas the male coupling portions '12 and 13 at its opposite end faces, isprovided with grooves 14 which, unlike the grooves 6 and 7 in FIG. 1,are open at both ends. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the outer end portions of thegrooves 14 are designated with reference numerals 15 and 16,respectively and it is these end portions 15 and 16 which are ofconstantcylindricalcross-section. Just as in FIG. 1, each of theportions 15 and 16 of constant cross-section is joined inwardly thereofwith a portionidentified with reference numeral 16 and 18,respectively-whose cross section decreases in the direction away fromthe respective portion of constant cross-section. The manner in whichshaft member 8 is used in conjunction with the grooves 14 in buildingblock 1 1 in FIGS. 3 and 4 is identical with that described withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The difference, of course, lies in the factthat in FIGS. 3 and 4, the shaft member 8 can be introduced into thegrooves 14 from either end of the building block 11 and can thus bemovably or immovably secured to either end of the building block 11.

Although FIGS. 1-4 always show the shaft member 8 to be of constantcross-section and show the respective grooves to be provided withportions of constant crosssection and with portions of decreasing crosssection it will be understood that this relationship could be reversed.In other words, the grooves could be of constant cross section and theshaft member 8 could be provided with a forward portion of constantcross section and a further portion immediately rearwards of thisforward portion and having a cross-section which increases in thedirection away from the forward portion. The operation of the novelarrangement would then still be the same and such a modification wouldbe the functional equivalent of the invention as shown in FIGS. 1-4. Ofcourse, such a modification is also intended to tbe encompassed by theclaims appended. Furthermore, it is to be noted that there is no needfor an inward convergence of the entire surface bounding the respectiveportions 61), 7b, 17 and 18; it would be sufficient, if this should forany reason be desired, perhaps because of manufacturing economies or forsome other consideration to have only a part of the surface portions inquestion, for instance a strip-shaped part, taper inwardly.

Although various different materials are of course useable forconstructing the building blocks and the shaft member, it is preferredto use a plastic material since there are many synthetic plastics on themarket which have a high resistance to breaking stresses, which age veryslowly, and which can be worked simply and therefore very economically.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofapplications differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in atoy construction kit, it is not intended to be limited to the detailsshown since various modifications and structural changes may be madeWithout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can, by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a toy construction kit, a male structural element having acylindrical end portion of constant diameter: and a female structuralelement having a surface provided with means for optionally couplingsaid elements in relatively rotational or relatively non-rotationalrelation, said means comprising a passage in form of an undercut grooveprovided in said surface and bounded by a concave internal surface whichextends over a portion of are at least slightly greater than 180, saidpassage comprising two longitudinally adjacent portions, one of saidportions being of a constant diameter slightly greater than saiddiameter of said end portion and the other of said portions having adiameter which decreases in direction away from said one portion sothat, when said end portion of said male structural element is insertedinto said one portion, said elements are free to move relative to oneanother whereas insertion of said end portion into said other portionresults in frictional engagement of said surfaces and prevents suchmovement.

2. A kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said groove comprises anadditional portion of constant diameter and an additional portion ofdecreasing diameter, said portions of constant diameter beinglongitudinally spaced and said portions of decreasing diameter beinglocated thereintermediate.

3. A kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said concave internal surfaceconverges inwardly in the region of said second portion over its entirearcuate extension.

4. A kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said concave internal surfaceconverges radially inwardly in the region of said second portion overpart of its arcuate extension.

5. A kit as defined in claim 1, wherein at least said female structuralelement consists of synthetic plastic material.

6. In a toy construction kit, a female structural element provided withmeans for optionally coupling said elements in relatively rotational orrelatively non-rotational relation, said means comprising a passage inform of an undercut groove bounded by a concave internal surface whichextends over a portion of are at least slightly greater than and a malestructural element movable in said passage in a predetermined directionand provided with a peripheral surface, one of said surfaces defining aconstant cross-sectional diameter and the other of said surfacescomprising two portions one of which is leading and the other of whichis trailing in said predetermined direction, said one portion defining aconstant cross-sectional diameter slightly differing from said constantcross-sectional diameter of said one surface, and said other portiondefining a cross-sectional diameter which tapers in said predetermineddirection.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,430,524 11/1947 Miller.

2,609,638 9/1952 Lindenmeyer 4616X 3,243,207 3/1966 Carpenter 285-260 F.BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

